Anxiety and anxiety-related disorders are extremely common. Anxiety-related conditions can be relatively mild or can be sufficiently severe as to be quite disabling. Also noteworthy is that anxiety, while infrequently a "disease" in itself, is an almost inevitable and often exacerbating consequence of many other medical and surgical conditions.
The most common treatment for anxiety is to administer one of a class of anxiolytic agents. The most common of these are benzodiapenes such as diazepam and alprazolam. Benzodiapenes can act to counteract anxiety by depressing the electrical afterdischarge in the limbic system, and may possibly inhibit neurotransmission mediated by gamma-aminobutyrate (GABA). Gilman et al., The Pharmaceutical Basis of Therapeutics 434 (Gilman et al., eds., 7th ed., McMillan Publishing Co., New York 1985). These compounds have proven to be effective at reducing anxiety, but they also have significant depressant effects and act as skeletal muscle relaxers. These side effects can render these compounds unsuitable for many patients, particularly those whose anxiety is coupled to another form of illness.
British Patent No. 2 225 325 to Gozzini et al. discloses an opioid peptide with high affinity for delta opioid receptors. Administration of the peptide is said to control pain and the symptoms of depression and anxiety. No mention is made therein of reduced sedative effects.
In view of the foregoing, it is an object of the present invention to provide new treatment methods for combatting the effects of anxiety, along with compositions for carrying out the same.